Trina Hurdman, Calgary Board of Education CBE Trustee for wards 6 & 7

Nov. 4, 2014 Board Meeting

Here is an outline of the public agenda and reports for the November 4, 2014 board meeting.

– School Presentation:Discovering Choices is an outreach program to encourage students to complete high school in a more flexible and supportive environment.

– Monitoring of policy OE-4: Treatment of Employees (pg. 6-1 to 6-14). “The Chief Superintendent shall ensure the recruitment, employment, development, evaluation and compensation of the organization’s employees in a manner necessary to enable the organization to achieve its Results policies.” Trustees had the opportunity to ask questions about this report at the last board meeting and will decide at this meeting which policy subsections the Board deems to be in non-compliance and whether or not the CBE is in compliance with the policy as a whole.

– Financial Status of Operating & Capital Reserves & Designated Funds at August 31,2014 (pg. 5-1 to 5-11): For the 2013-14 school year, the CBE had budgeted to use $11.8 million from operating reserves. Due to a number of factors, the CBE did not have to use some of those reserves and is now requesting permission from the Board (as per policy) to add $14.6 million to certain reserves as detailed in this report from the budget surplus. This will bring the CBE’s “available for use reserves” up to $37.3 million of which $21.7 million has already been budgeted for use during the current 2014-15 school year. This will leave $15.6 million (note that this is only 1.3% of the current budget) for use in future years.

The following reports are on the “Consent Agenda” which means that they become part of the public record, but are not discussed during the board meeting. All motions for action items on the consent agenda are unanimously approved unless a trustee “pulls” the item off of the consent agenda for a vote.

– Monitoring of policy OE-10: Instructional Program (pg. 6-15 to 6-28). “The Chief Superintendent shall maintain a program of instruction that offers challenging and relevant opportunities for all students to achieve at levels defined in the Board’s Results policies.” The Board approves that the Chief Superintendent is in compliance with this policy.

– Chief Superintendent’s Update (pg. 6-29 to 6-34). This report includes updates on three of the four objectives of the CBE’s Three Year Education Plan:

– Personalize Learning: Schools were supported as they participated in the new Grade 3 pilot Student Learning Assessments (SLAs) and were encouraged to provide feedback. The CBE was involved in a three year project with Alberta Education to develop and implement a Career & Technology Foundations (CTF) curriculum for Gr. 5-9 students and is now well positioned to continue that work when the province introduces mandatory implementation in 2015-16. High schools will be using a common course registration guide to make clearer to students the various opportunities and pathways to success available in the CBE. Last year, a number of off-campus programs and internships with community partners were developed and implemented for high school students. The CBE was successful in supporting dual credit opportunities for students through provincial grants and is looking for sustainable funding in order to continue these opportunities.

– Build Professional Capital: As part of the legislated four-year labour settlement between teachers and school boards, a committee (C2) was formed to examine teacher workload. The committee has presented 16 recommendations which are now in the implementation planning process.

– Steward Our Resources: Through collaboration, new tools and supports were provided to school-based leaders to successfully staff their schools which was resulted in noticeable improvements. The CBE is in the midst of 28 major construction projects. Most of the debris from the September snowstorm has been cleared and attention will be turned to tree replacement in the coming months. A new Administrative Regulation has been developed with respect to board appeals under Section 123 of the School Act and will be communicated to stakeholders soon.

– Official correspondence received by the Board of Trustees (pg. 6-35 to 6-37). Letter from Education Minister, Gordon Dirks, regarding the CBE’s recent modular classrooms request.

You can watch the proceedings in person at the Education Centre (1221 – 8 St. SW) or online either live, or through the video recording posted within a few days of the meeting. All board meetings begin at noon.

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At this time, Calgary Board of Education schools will be open as usual on Thursday, Feb. 8, but we are closely monitoring the weather conditions and will provide an update if a decision is made to close CBE schools.